


The Stars Shine Tonight

by sugarspuncoeurls



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Female Character of Color, Fluff, Sensual Fluff, Winter Palace AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 19:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3393257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarspuncoeurls/pseuds/sugarspuncoeurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amidst a hoard of lightning bugs, she is her own night sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stars Shine Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Wasn't expecting this to be my first DA fic, but here we are. Vague spoilers for the plot of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, so be warned. Enjoy!

She looks beautiful, stunning against the gold and glamour of the palace as she walks the floor sparkling with silver jewels, a train of luscious black lace faithfully following in her wake.  _Amidst a hoard of lightning bugs, she is her own night sky._  Sebastian chuckles to himself at the comparison.  _Too much of her has rubbed off on you_ , he thinks, then coughs into his fist to cover his laugh when a trio of Orlesian nobles glances curiously in his direction. Nevertheless, he’s missed her this evening. Amid the underlying urgency of finding the empress’ would-be assassin, they’ve hardly taken time together, not as companions, not as Prince and Viscountess, not as _anything_ since he surprised her with the ballroom’s announcement of his arrival. Since then it’s been little more than keeping appearances, something he’s always found particularly exhausting, and the current course of the evening suggests his receiving little reprieve.

Which may mean an attempt to supply it himself.

Some distance away, Morowa converses with a pair of masked ladies, her claret lips curved in a winning smile. She's no doubt in her element as she beguiles half the room’s occupants, all while the other half watches from afar, questioning if her great appeal is the product of some Chasind enchantment. As if hearing his thoughts, she glances in his direction, catches his eye and offers a small, flirtatious wink and a crinkled nose. And just like it always has, just like  _she_  always has, it draws him right in.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she’d maybe cast a spell on him, as well.

Sebastian steps away from his resting place near one of the decorative end tables, bypasses polite greetings as he makes his way across the gleaming, gold-paned floor to her side. Her guests don’t notice his stealthy approach, but she does, and her smile deepens, becomes more humored with each boot he puts before the other. Telling that, even with her attention on him, she’s still managing to charm the influence right off of her audience and into her proverbial pockets. By the time he’s arrived, exchanging greetings, she’s practically laughing, the dark gray-brown of her eyes twinkling like the jewels studding her gown.  _She knows why you’re here. She always knows._  Honestly, it makes it all that much easier. “If you would excuse us a moment,” he politely requests, recalling his old ways just enough to grant the guests a winning smile of his own. Morowa chuckles at his side, but his appeal works, leaves the noblewomen satisfied and tittering behind their fans, and leaves _her_ free to indulge him a moment or two. She doesn’t ask questions as he escorts them through the palace proper, but he feels her eyes on him, her arm clasped in his and the lace drape of her long sleeves caressing his knuckles. An empty balcony calls to him, prompts him to guide her through its double doors and into the fragrant, floral-scented night air. He pulls the doors closed and sighs once to himself, relishing the quiet and the small form of privacy he’s managed to provide for them, however temporary. When he turns around, Morowa is leaning elegantly – and expectantly – against the balcony railing, perfectly framed by moonlight, the cool sable of her skin glowing rich. She smirks at him.

“Dragged me away from perfectly good gossip just to…what? Get me alone?” She tsks as if to scold him. “Someone’s priorities seem a tad off, Sebastian.” She lifts a sculpted eyebrow. “Hardly proper conduct for Starkhaven’s representative.” Sebastian responds to her tease with nary a smile; rather, he steps forward and gently takes her hands in his own, leans in, and grazes his lips first over her forehead, then over either cheek, and then along the round point of her chin, supple brushings only just felt against her skin. The scent of amaryllis enters his nose with their proximity, and he breathes it in until it’s all he can perceive barring his touch.

Morowa falls abruptly silent and still, tellingly withholding her usual witticisms as he goes, at least until he moves his affection to her eyelids and nose. Only then does she choose to make action, and he smiles when she decisively brings him away from the path he’s set across her features and grants him instead one straight to the suppleness of her mouth, her hands pulling from the cradle of his grip to follow the gold lining of his undercoat. It doesn’t faze him, though he does suck in a quiet breath. He takes his newly freed hands and strokes them down her lacy sides, caressing intricate patterns as he tries not to focus too intensely on the way the delicate material clings to her ample curves, allowing his fingers precious brushes with the bare skin underneath. Morowa obliges him, her fingers dancing over his shoulders and inward to hold his collar, but he can tell she’s holding back, keeping herself from doing any damage to either of their impeccable appearances. It’s why she doesn’t card her hands through his hair like she so loves to do, why she leans further into him but doesn’t actively pull him closer, why her tongue suspiciously behaves itself and doesn’t work to take his breath away. Still, when they part, her black shimmer-lined eyes are half-lidded and shining, and their bodies are rocking subtly to the melody echoing from the ballroom.

“I ‘dragged you away’ to tell you how beautiful you look tonight,” he whispers, smiling at the shiver that runs through her as their mouths brush. “You are entrancing.”

Morowa barely manages to lift an eyebrow. “Really? We came all this way just for you to tell me that?” She narrows her eyes in doubt, but her smile is growing again. Sebastian nods, his countenance teasingly grave as he gives a gentle squeeze to the small of her back.

“It was imperative that you know.” He fights a chuckle when Morowa abruptly laughs, the dark twists of her hair soft against his cheeks as she leans into him.

“Well, I can’t argue with logic, can I? It seems the good prince has his priorities in line after all!”

“It pleases me that you think so.” Grinning, Sebastian presses his forehead to hers, their noses brushing as he wraps his arms completely around her. He lifts a hand from her back to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Are you enjoying yourself this evening?”

“You have to ask? There’s enough scandal among these blowhards to satisfy my sweet tooth for weeks. Even better that much of it is about me.” Morowa sweeps her hands over his shoulders, removing invisible imperfections from his tailored tunic. “And you? I know parties and shallow conversation aren’t your preferred way to pass the time.”

“I’m occupying myself well enough, but I admit I’m looking forward to the end of this event, however it turns out.” Times like this, he finds himself missing the quiet, incense-touched seclusion of the Chantry. Sebastian looks over his shoulder and resignedly sighs, his hold reluctantly loosening as he anticipates the glittering mess of an evening waiting for them inside. “Which should be our cue to return, shouldn’t it?” _At least we were granted this moment._

He’s almost to the doors, his boots on the balcony seeming to him like the terrible ticking down of a clock, when a long-fingered hand grabs his arm and whirls him back around. Before he can react, full lips find him again in a kiss warm and sweet, lingering just enough to fill his head with promises that will, for the time being, have to go unfulfilled. A honeyed voice murmurs amusedly into one corner of his mouth. “You brought me all the way here for a reason, Your Highness. I think we can spare a few more minutes for ourselves.” Sebastian smiles.

“What about your scandals? They won’t wait for you to reappear.” Morowa smirks, her fingers playing over his lapels.

“Trust me, Seabass. Anything worth hearing, I’ll know.” She lifts an eyebrow. “ _You_  just worry about what alibi you’ll be using to explain those pretty red lips to our noble acquaintances.”

Sebastian blinks. “Red li-” He doesn’t get the chance to finish. Morowa's arms come back around his neck, pulling him intoxicatingly close as she kisses him silent. Before he knows it she's trapped him again in her orbit, her universe, made up of stars and night sky and the rose-red moon of her mouth.

 _Trapped? No,_   _not trapped, never trapped. I come willingly, as I always have. There is no spell or magical enchantment keeping me here. Just her._

_Always, ever her._


End file.
